“The Jetsons are lost in space, and it’s up to you and your friends to find them!”
Released in 1985 by Milton Bradley, The Jetsons Game takes kids on a cosmic adventure in search of their favourite Jetsons characters.
The Jetsons animated series was produced by Hanna-Barbera and originally aired from September 1962 to March 1963. The show followed the lives and adventures of the Jetson family — George, Judy, Jane, and Elroy. Supporting characters included the family dog, Astro, and Rosey the robotic domestic help. The series enjoyed a revival from 1985 to 1987. During that time, the alien Orbitty character was introduced.
GAMEPLAY
The Jetsons Game had players travel the board in search of character cards. At the beginning of the game, players selected a pawn to represent them on the board. The pawns were illustrated with one of four characters: George, Jane, Judy, or Astro. Players searched for the three cards that, when assembled, illustrated the complete their character. In addition to finding the three character cards, players also needed to find an Elroy card.
The player with the highest roll on the single dice started the game from a space of their choosing and proceed to roll and move along the board. The board was divided into four distinct orbits. At the centre of each orbit was the stack of character cards.
There were two types of stops on the board: solid blue spaces and Orbitty spaces. Landing on a blue dot ended a player’s turn. Orbitty spaces allowed a player to take a character card from the top of the stack within the nearest orbit.
The stack potentially included a section of the character being sought, an Elroy card, an Orbitty card, and/or a Rosey card. In the event that a player turned over a piece of their character, they kept the card. If they found an Elroy card and didn’t yet have one, they also kept it. If they drew an Elroy card but had drawn one earlier or if they drew a section of an opponent’s character, the card would be returned to the bottom of the stack.
Attentive players kept tabs on which orbits the pieces of their character were located. Drawing an Orbitty card allowed players to move to any Orbitty space on the board and select a card from the orbit.
The Rosey cards caused a bit of chaos: if a player drew Rosey, all the character cards would be collected from the orbits, shuffled, and redistributed. This added an extra challenge to the hunt.
Players continued rolling and moving until they had collected all three of the cards that completed their character plus one Elroy card. The first player to accomplish this task won the game.
IN THE BOX
A complete game included a game board, four player pawns and plastic bases, 19 character cards, and one die. Instructions were printed on the underside of the box top.
COLLECTOR CONSIDERATIONS
Milton Bradley produced plenty of copies of The Jetsons Game to satisfy consumer demand. The game isn’t hard to find, but the cardboard components were vulnerable to environmental factors or being lost over time.
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